Car-door top guide



P. IVIl ELLIOTT. CAR DOOR TOP GUIDE. APPLICATION FILED MAILS. 1919.

194g 19431 rammed July@ 1922.

Unirse STATES :BERCY M. ELLIOTT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CAR-DOOR TOP GUIDE;

Specification of Letters Patent. Patgnted July 4, 1922,

Application filed May 3, 1919. Serial No. 294,496.

To all tu 71 om t may concern Be it known that I7 PERCY M. ELLIOTT, a citizen of the United States7 residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Door Top Guides, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to top-guides for sliding doors for cars, and particularly to the type of car door guides described and claimed in my application Serial No. 294,495 filed of even ldate herewith, according to which the members of the guide, namely, a guiderail mounted on the car and curb-bar carried by the door7 are formed, the one with a vertically presented guide trough and the other with a vertically eX- tending flanged portion adapted to enter said trough, so that the two members of the guide remain so interlocked both vertically and horizontally that notwithstanding they remain free-running or out of vertical bearing one upon the other, so long as the normal traversing support of the door remains in use, they will nevertheless at such time develop a more effective weathering closure at the top of the door, and will effectively interlock aoainst both dropping down of the door and laateral escape of the same from the guide, whenever the roller bracket or other normal traversing support becomes impaired.

The object of the present invention is to provide a special construction of top guide which will not only insure the conditions above outlined, that is to say, normal freerunning service as a guide and weather guard, and normally maintained interlock, separable only by telescoping movement, but will secure the additional conditions of having the curb bar confined both inwardly and outwardly by walls of the guide rail, depending integrally from a common attaching plate, and concaved interiorly to provide an enlarged guide-way to receive an integral head upon the curb bar, and a restricted throat to receive the shank of said curb bar so that under the emergency conditions referred to the head of the curb bar drops into contact with the side walls of the guideway, and not only continues the weathering closure at the top but minimizes the inclination of the door to swing outwardly,

besides presenting the entire structure in a forml which is cheaper to manufacture and install, and much more durable in use.

The guide rail forming the subject-mat- A pair of flanges which diverge from each other to develop the space necessary to form the guide-way, and one or both of which may be additionally deflected to develop the restricted slot. The curb bar is also best produced by rolling to form its integral head or enlargement with its reduced shank or connecting flange, and an angular or other base by which it may be secured to the door.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a vertical sectional view of a car-door and its mountings upon the car, included in which is one embodiment of the present invention. A

Figures 2 and 3 are similar views of the upper portion of the structure shown in Figure l, but with modified forms of guide rail.

Figure 4 is a detail view suggesting a form of blank from which to produce the guide rail of the present invention.

A represents the doorway of a car, B a sliding door for closing the same and C a known construction of roller-bearing support, which constitutes the normal traversing support for the door in executing opening and closing movements.

In order to sustain the door laterally at top and provide an effective closure against weather, while leaving it free to travel in its own plane, and in order to provide an emergency support at top that will receive the vertical load of the door when and in case the support C gives way, and not otherwise, the guide rail l attached to the side plate of the car has a downwardly presented trough la with a restricted slot or opening lb, and the curb-bar 2, attached to the door, has its flange 2a that. extends through the slot lb into the trough l, provided with an enlargement 2b exceeding in diameter that of the slot.

Curb-bar 2 is preferably made of a Z-bar with one fiange upset to form the enlargement 2b of any form. Guide rail l may be made of a T-bar by deflecting the head flanges as shown in Figure l, or by deflecting the stem of the T tovvard `a bulbed or beaded headflangevas shownin Figure 2, or by deflectin the Wall-flange of a special channel bar, Iig. 4, to produce the form shown in Figure 3.

The outer Wall of the slot 1fL provides the confining wall to prevent the door tipping outward,andtheinner wall ot' said slot may be so spaced asto provide the cha-fing face to prevent the door bearing inwardly again'st the side of the car,

In the forms herein disclosed, the curbbar fiange 2a rises vertically from thel top edge of the door and the guide-rail has its attaching `base l@ in the form of a flange, from which base the trough lZL depends, the trough being located symmetrically to the plane of the attaching base or flange in Figure 1, and the side-plate ofthe car being recessed to receive it, and` being located to one side oi the plane of the flange in the other figures; but While these are features ofthe preferred construction of the device,

they are not to be taken as limiting the scope of the invention.

In combination With a car and its sliding door, means normally affording traversing support for Vthe door upon the car, and a guide and emergency support for said door comprising a guide rail and a curb bar; said guide rail comprising a vertically extending attaching base and symmetrically depending guidev walls providing between them, and substantially Within inner and outer vertical planes o'l the door, a guideway with a downwardly presented restricted throat; and said curb bar comprising an attaching base, a vertically extending shank offset horizontally from the attaching base to bring it within the vertical plane of the restricted throat, and an integral head carried by said shank Within the guide-Way.

y Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 22nd day of April, 1919.

PER-CY M. ELLIOTT. 

